The Spymaster of Baghdad: The Untold Story of the Elite Intelligence Cell that Turned the Tide against...

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Margaret Coker

The Spymaster of Baghdad

The Untold Story of the Elite Intelligence Cell that Turned the Tide against ISIS

Margaret Coker

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Viking
03 March 2021

History; Military history: post WW2 conflicts; Terrorist attack; Revolutionary groups & movements; Special & elite forces; Military intelligence

The gripping true story of a spymaster, a bomb-maker and two brothers - one undercover in ISIS, the other his handler The Spymaster of Baghdad is the gripping story of the Falcons- the top-secret Iraqi intelligence unit that infiltrated the Islamic State. Against the backdrop of the most brutal conflict of recent decades, we chart the spymaster's struggle to develop the unit; follow the fraught relationship of two of his agents, the al-Sudani brothers - one undercover in ISIS, the other his handler - and track a disillusioned scientist as she turns bomb-maker. With unprecedented access to characters on all sides, Pulitzer Prize-finalist Margaret Coker challenges the conventional view that western coalition forces defeated ISIS and reveals a page-turning story of unlikely heroes, unbelievable courage and good old-fashioned spycraft.

By: Margaret Coker
Imprint: Viking
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 425g
ISBN: 9780241409107
ISBN 10: 0241409101
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 03 March 2021
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Margaret Coker is an investigative journalist. She has lived and worked in Iraq and the wider Middle East since 2003. An ex-Baghdad Bureau Chief for the New York Times, she honed her reporting skills at The Wall Street Journal where she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize as part of a team chronicling Turkey's failed coup, political purges and teetering democracy. Her coverage of national security issues won the Overseas Press Club Award and the Edwin M. Hood Prize from the National Press Club, America's top prize for diplomatic reporting. This is her first book.

Reviews for The Spymaster of Baghdad: The Untold Story of the Elite Intelligence Cell that Turned the Tide against ISIS

Searing, pulse-pounding, yet also acutely human, this compelling account of how Iraqi agents infiltrated ISIS takes us deep beneath the lurid Baghdad and Mosul headlines and into a sharply focused world of courage, ingenuity, terror and love. This is not just a story of dry-mouthed espionage, but also of its profound repercussions upon loved ones and family; the intense struggle to live in peace in a land where extremists of all varieties seek to bring death. Greatly illuminating and powerful -- Sinclair McKay, author of Dresden Authentic, moving, visceral, chilling, utterly revelatory, truly masterful. A stunning tour de force by an author who has lived every word of it on the ground. A story of our time that absolutely needs to be told -- Damien Lewis, author of Zero Six Bravo